THE city's purge on a culture of council absenteeism has been undermined by a combined flu and stomach bug.

THE city's purge on a culture of council absenteeism has been undermined by a combined flu and stomach bug.

Hundreds of Birmingham's 10,000 teachers were struck down as the outbreak swept through schools and closed them down.

And now the bug has also taken a huge bite out of the council's performance figures.

The crackdown was launched when absenteeism became so rife among Birmingham's 52,000 employees that each was averaging 19 days off sick a year - one of the worst local authority records in the country.

The concerted attack on the "flu day culture" costing city taxpayers #15 million a year saw sickness days fall to an average of 9.5. But the figure has now climbed to ten days and is rising again.

"We've been bitten by this 72 hour bug," admitted city deputy leader Coun Paul Tilsley. "When you have so many schools and teachers affected it is bound to hit your figures. But we are determined to get the rate of absence down again and make a significant improvement."

The most popular reason given for time off by council pen pushers is stress. Close runner up is a bad back.

Absenteeism has fallen since the council appointed its own in house doctor and targeted long term sickness - a move which saw hundreds of people ordered back to work.